THE PASSING OF THE WILD 323 



the sportsman is not only made to contribute 

 to the cost of game reserves, but is restricted 

 as to the number of each animal he may kill. 

 The second is by ordaining* a close season, 

 which may last, like our close seasons at 

 home, for only part of each year, or which, 

 in cases where it is desired to let a threatened 

 species re-establish itself, may extend over a 

 number of years, during which that species 

 is contraband. The third is by closing speci- 

 fied areas, which thereby become sanctuaries in 

 which wild animals may live in peace. 



The success or failure of game laws, speak- 

 ing generally, is a matter too wide to allow 

 of discussion in these pages, and the political 

 aspect of such restrictions is still further from 

 the scope of the book. Without these laws, 

 however, it is safe to say that not only our 

 pheasants and partridges, but also all manner 

 of other wild creatures which live in the woods 

 would long ago have become as extinct as the 

 bear and wolf. In "free" countries, like Italy 

 and France, where the game belongs for the 

 most part to the people, it is a possession in 

 name only, for the game is gone. Such 

 simple game laws as those which suffice in 

 England are obviously not applicable to those 

 forests and deserts in which big game still find 

 their last refuge. At the same time there are 

 tracts of continental Europe which bear so 



